ND posts shutout of U-M

May 14, 2006|BRUCE MARSHALL Tribune Staff Writer

SOUTH BEND -- Winners of a second-round NCAA Tournament match Saturday, the Notre Dame women's tennis team quickly discovered it had to do more than just serve its No. 2 ranking across the court to beat No. 29 Michigan. The Irish victory was much closer than the 4-0 final. In a closely contested competition, Notre Dame's No. 1 doubles team of Catrina and Christian Thompson (ranked No. 5 nationally) were beaten by the No. 1 Michigan duo of Kara Delicata and Debra Streifler (ranked No. 34 nationally) 8-4. Notre Dame's No. 2 doubles team of Brook Buck and Kelcy Tefft then rebounded from a 4-1 deficit to win seven consecutive games and give the Irish a tie with only the No. 3 doubles still in progress. "I was really impressed with how our No. 2 doubles came back," said coach Jay Louderback. "Usually, when they start slow, they have a hard time getting back in the match, but today they played really well." The doubles point was decided by the No. 3 team of Lauren Connelly and Kristina Stastny, who won their match, 8-5, against Michigan's No. 3 team of Lindsey Howard and Nina Yaftali. "I was happy for them because they are two of our seniors," said Louderback. "It was nice for them to give us the clinching game in the doubles. "I think we came out a little nervous. We have lost in this round the last three years." Once the doubles point was decided, the Irish seemed to settle down for the singles matches. Unofficially, it was about 30 minutes into the six matches -- all played simultaneously -- before Michigan posted a winning game. "We played really well in the singles," said Louderback. "In fact, that was probably the best we played all year in singles. And we played well at every position in the singles." Notre Dame advances to the round of 16 for the first time since 2001 and begins play Thursday against Kentucky at the Taube Tennis Center in Stanford, Calif. "Kentucky has been very good at the end of the year; they made the (Southeastern Conference) finals," said Louderback. "I'll call a couple of coaches I know in the SEC and see what information they can give me. Right now, though, we know very little about them."